Auctions for sale of products have proven to be very popular and the success of the systems involve two major features. Typically with auction systems, there is the possibility to obtain the product at a very competitive price. In addition, there is the excitement and skill of the buyer who participates in the auction process and makes fast decisions whether to continue to participate or to recognize the price has become too high. The auction process, traditionally, has been a relatively fast process which changes quickly. The standard auction process involves users bidding for a particular product, and the product is sold to the highest bidder.
The dynamic nature of the auction process, in its traditional form, is attractive to a certain number of participants, but it is also an obstacle to a further group of participants who do not wish to rush their decision process. For this reason, there are other variations of the auction process where the time period for the auction is much longer and the feedback of information tends to be slower. Some auction processes do not provide any real time feedback, such as a silent auction process, where users merely submit their bid, which is confidential.
A further variation of the auction process is a reverse auction where the price of the product decreases in a set manner during the time period of the auction and each participant is provided with the current price, the quantity on hand and the time remaining in the auction. This type of auction, typically, takes place over a very short period of time and there is a flurry of activity in the last portion of the auction process. The actual auction terminates when there is no more product to be sold or the time period expires. A reverse auction process has been used very effectively in Holland for the sale of flowers to wholesalers.
The auction process for the sale of products has also been used on INTERNET. In this case, the various users send E-mail to the auction site with details of their bid and identity. Details of the bid are posted on the auction site computer and are available to other participants. The auction process typically has a time period of several days or weeks, and the product is allocated to the highest bidders. This type of process does not provide the excitement or the real time dynamic feedback of a traditional auction or a reverse auction. One of the advantages of this system is the lack of complexity in running of the auction process over INTERNET where E-mail is used to communicate with the auction computer.